Innehållsförteckning för Vol.68/No.38 från Beijing Review

On September 1, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus” Meeting held in Tianjin. The GGI is the fourth landmark global initiative proposed by Xi, following the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilizations Initiative. The GGI addresses a pressing need within the global community to find a more just and equitable governance system that embraces the emergence of Global South countries. The GGI was proposed on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the founding of the UN. Faced with challenges such as the resurgence of Cold War mentality and the rise of unilateralism, the global governance system must adapt to remain effective. The GGI encompasses five core concepts: sovereign equality, international rule…

The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was a period of unparalleled suffering and a testament to the nation’s unyielding spirit. Between 1931 and 1945, China sustained over 35 million casualties, and as many as 100 million were forced to flee their homes. This unrelenting resistance safeguarded China’s sovereignty and shielded its allies by forcing Tokyo to commit more than 1 million troops to the mainland. In doing so, China made itself essential to the global victory over fascism and secured a place as one of the great powers shaping the post-war order. In absolute numbers, historians estimate that Japanese troop levels in China during operations ranged from a few hundred thousand to around 1 million. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops lost their lives in the fighting…

In September, Uwe Fritsch joined a delegation of executives from more than 20 German smart manufacturing companies on a 10-day journey across China. Their journey took them to Xiamen, Fujian Province, just as the city entered one of its most anticipated moments of the year—the annual China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), the country’s only national-level exhibition focused on investment promotion. From September 8 to 11, the 25th edition of the fair welcomed tens of thousands of participants from over 120 countries and regions, converging in the city to uncover opportunities and make connections. For Fritsch, founder of the German consulting firm Strategie und Beratung GmbH, participating in the China tour was not about making business transactions. “I’m a networker,” he told Beijing Review. His goal this time…

Known for centuries as the “land of fish and rice” and the “land of rivers and lakes,” Jiangsu Province lies in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, along China’s eastern coastline. These names reflect a landscape shaped by fertile soil, crisscrossed with rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs that have nourished and brought prosperity for generations. Today, Jiangsu, roughly the size of Iceland, stands as one of China’s most developed regions. In 2024, the province’s GDP reached 13.7 trillion yuan ($1.88 trillion), ranking second among China’s provincial administrative regions, trailing only behind Guangdong Province. The province combines the natural wealth that has long defined it with a spirit of innovation and reform that continues to drive it forward. Its ancient towns still carry the elegance of traditional Chinese culture, while…

DREAM COME TRUE FOR ACTRESS Xin Zhilei, 39, won the Best Actress award at the 82nd Venice Film Festival for her leading role in The Sun Rises on Us All on September 6. The film portrays a tragic romance of former lovers entangled by fate. In her acceptance speech, Xin, the second actress from the Chinese mainland to receive the honor, more than three decades after Gong Li’s historic win in 1992, said standing on the festival’s stage was a dream come true. She also offered words of encouragement to young girls. “To all the girls out there, if you have a dream, dare to imagine it and go after it—you never know, it might just come true,” she said. Xi, a native of Heilongjiang Province, began her career in…

On September 1, at the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus” Meeting in Tianjin, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled a sweeping new proposal for the future of world order: the Global Governance Initiative (GGI). The framework is articulated through five principles—sovereign equality, respect for international rule of law, multilateralism, people-centered approach and real actions. For decades, global governance has been a contested concept—alternatively championed, undermined or reshaped by shifting great-power dynamics. Xi’s proposal arrives at a moment of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, eroding trust in existing institutions, and deepening divides over security, technology and development. The GGI represents both continuity and change: Continuity in China’s longstanding advocacy for a community with a shared future for humanity, and change in that Beijing is openly putting forth a structured governance framework on the international stage.…

On September 3, China captured the world’s attention with a massive military parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. I attended the parade and watched the spectacle unfold just 100 meters from the Tiananmen Rostrum. The parade, taking place in Tiananmen Square before an audience of more than 50,000 Chinese participants and several world leaders, sent a clear message: The era of unipolar dominance has ended, never to return. The parade, watched by millions globally, was an occasion of national pride, showcasing China’s modern weapons systems on a com-memorative day. In his address before the parade, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that, today, humanity again has to choose between peace and war, dialogue…

Jill Chen Poun Joe, a videographer of half-Chinese descent from Suriname, visited China for the first time this May with her father and aunt. She traveled to Beijing, Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province, Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, where part of her family still resides. “My first impression of China was how developed it is—so clean, so beautiful—and I just love its people. It’s amazing,” she told Beijing Review. During her visit, she created a visual diary centered on her journey of reconnecting with her roots. “I made two videos documenting my journey to learn more about where my grandparents came from—Guangdong,” she added. The Chinese community has long been an important part of Suriname’s society, according to the young woman. “They…

Once renowned for silk and classical Chinese gardens, Suzhou, an eastern city in Jiangsu Province, only about 80 km west of Shanghai, has transformed into a global workplace layered atop 2,500 years of history. Throughout the city, badge readers blink, espresso machines hiss, and meetings shift back and forth between Chinese and English. Many engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs from around the world now describe the city with the same phrase: their “home away from home.” These individuals are part of a wider transformation. In Suzhou, foreign talent is driving progress across fields ranging from AI and biomedicine to precision machinery and cultural entrepreneurship, shaping not only laboratories and startups, but also factory floors and classrooms. A talent-friendly city Suzhou’s ascent as a magnet for foreign professionals is rooted in deliberate…

Sports Consumption China issued a set of guidelines to unleash the potential of the sports economy on September 4, as part of broader efforts to drive the highquality development of related industries. By 2030, China plans to cultivate a batch of sports companies and events with global influence, propelling its domestic sports industry to a scale of over 7 trillion yuan ($985 billion), as per the guidelines, which were issued by the General Office of the State Council, the highest state administrative organ. The guidelines outline 20 measures in six fields, including those related to the expansion of the supply of sports products and events, the boosting of sports consumption, support for sports businesses and the cultivation of new growth drivers in related industries. Specific measures include those to develop…

Thirty years ago this month, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, where the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted, creating an agenda for women’s empowerment that is now considered the key global policy document on gender equality. It set strategic objectives and actions for the advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 critical areas of concern, including education and training, health, and power and decision-making. Much progress has since been made in China. The numbers speak for themselves. Women account for 26.54 percent of the deputies to the incumbent 14th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous one (2018-22). In 2024, women accounted for 45 percent of the country’s practicing physicians. In 2020, the…

After suffering from cataracts for many years, He Xiyou, a 77-year-old resident of Pishan County in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, had his sight restored in March, thanks to a free surgery performed as part of the region’s ongoing paired assistance program. Hotan is celebrated for the quality of its fruit, a testament to its abundant sunshine and long daylight hours. However, the intense ultraviolet rays also contribute to a significantly higher incidence of cataracts among local residents. This March, a medical team comprised of physicians from Anhui Province and their local counterparts from Pishan County People’s Hospital traveled to townships in the county to provide free surgeries to He, along with over 200 other local residents. The collaboration was part of a national paired assistance program launched by…

The solutions to our sleep struggles are far more complicated than simply counting sheep. Today, people go to great lengths in pursuit of a good night’s rest, with the help of gadgets such as white noise apps, noise-canceling earplugs, soothing eye patches, hi-tech pillows and mattresses, and smart sleep monitors. Behind these efforts lies a shared anxiety: In an increasingly fast-paced world, quality sleep has become both a luxury and an obsession. “I have been suffering from insomnia around three nights a week since I entered the work-force two years ago, and I started using sleep aid products over a month ago because insomnia has really impacted my work and daily life,” Zhang Hanfei, a 24-year-old Shanghai resident, told Beijing Review. “In addition to soaking my feet and massaging them…

In accordance with a new policy issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, since August 14, the data of confirmed cases of four categories of infectious diseases—namely, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and syphilis—have been linked to individuals’ ID cards, in order to achieve real-time cross-regional tracking of these diseases nationwide. Some argue that this transformative system is like a double‑edged sword: While bringing multiple benefits—improving the precision of epidemic monitoring and strengthening infectious disease control, it also raises public concerns about potential risks including privacy breaches, employment discrimination and social ostracism. Zhang Lin (News.longhoo.net): From the perspective of public health, this new method is a pivotal turning point in China’s infectious disease control system, shifting it from a reactive posture to a proactive early‑warning framework. Previously,…